Welcome to Saturday Brides Up North! Ahh Saturday morning, my very very favourite time of the week. A nice little lie in if you are lucky and the weekend stretching happily ahead. You and your man are both off work, the sun is up and the shops are open…

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What better time for a bit of ring hunting?

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I’m thinking the same, as today as we chat to Brides Up North Featured Supplier Mark of Mobeus. Is an eternity band for your second anniversary too extravagant I wonder…?

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Hi Mark! Tell us a bit about Mobeus?

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I started as an apprentice goldsmith in 1987 straight from 6th form college after doing A level CDT and Art. For the next five years I worked as an apprentice receiving one to one training before moving back to my home town to set up my own workshop inside an existing jewellers. After seven years doing that and running a workshop which coped with over twenty shops worth of repairs I decided to change direction.

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Mobeus was set up twelve years ago in a very small retail unit purely as a workshop open to the public with a small section of cabinets to display jewellery for sale. After five years I bought large retail premises further up the road and designed the interior of the shop so that the workshop was facing the retail shop so customers could see us working and we could talk to them without leaving the bench.

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How is Mobeus different from the competition?

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One of the main differences is that Mobeus is a jewellers owned and run by a goldsmith with twenty five years of knowledge and experience. My customers love the fact that they are talking to the people actually doing the work and it doesn’t get sent away anywhere.

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What products does Mobeus offer?

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Because I am a goldsmith I source the jewellery that we have for sale with a goldsmith’s eye, always checking the quality of any product we sell personally for build quality and design to ensure I am stocking excellent products that are going to last. We do have a small section of products we have designed and manufactured ourselves but most of our time is spent on commission work, which can be anything from a wedding ring and engagement ring set to an automated sterling silver water lily which is on display in Bowes museum! We have videos on our website showing how we make some of the commissions like the lily.

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What materials does Mobeus use in its wedding rings?

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Mobeus works in all precious metals, platinum, palladium, gold and silver. We do not work in stainless steel or titanium.

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Tell us about Mobeus’ shaped wedding rings and the process by which they are made?

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We have a video showing how we make shaped wedding rings – basically we talk through the design required by the customer and then hand-make the shaped wedding ring in silver so that the customer can actually try the shaped ring on their finger before they buy.

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We do this within three hours so we do not have to keep the engagement ring, and we do not charge for this service. After years of making jewellery I have found this to be a fool proof way of working which guarantees that the customer will be happy before we have the silver sample ring cast in any precious metal.

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Tell us about Mobeus’ gents’ wedding rings?

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We have also built up a sample box of ideas for gents’ wedding rings because we found the choice for gents generally was poor and when asked most men wanted something a little bit different rather than just plain.

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Tell us about your jewellery restoration service?

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We have restored all types of jewellery over the years sometimes due to sentimentality we restore and sometimes we will re-make something from scratch copying from what is left of the old jewellery or even working from pictures if the jewellery has been lost.

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What other services do you offer?

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Our most commonly used everyday service is white gold rhodium plating, we can do this the same day for customers if necessary, most jewellers take at least a week to have this job done.

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Where are you located? Do Brides Up North need an appointment?

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Our premises are in Hartlepool. A Google map is provided on our website to help customers find us easily and we have free parking for half an hour both down the side of the shop and over the road. An appointment is not essential but is recommended so that we can guarantee customers quality time.

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Can you give Brides Up North an idea on price?

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Although we are bespoke we are not expensive because we do everything in house which cuts out any middlemen eating up percentages.

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Are you running any special offers at the moment?

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We have a special offer on our website at the moment running until March 31st 2012, 10% off £1000 spent or 20% off £2000 spent.

When I was a bride to be, I LOVED attending wedding fairs – the hustle and bustle, the masses of wedding inspiration, brand new ideas, the gowns, the bling, the freebies and the general feeling of happiness and excitement floating through the air. I can hardly believe that the Brides Up North brand has grown so much that I am now throwing my own massive event – and it feels like one big fabulous party!

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I’m bursting with excitement about the weekend, but I know that as well as being a lot of fun, wedding exhibitions need to serve their purpose too. This event is primarily about assisting you lovely ladies with the wedding planning process and grouping together as many fabulous local suppliers in one area as possible for you to chat to. There is something for everyone on Sunday – from boho brides to pretty princesses, cool customers and vintage vixens, and it’s all under one roof.

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I also understand that 100+ stands over two huge function rooms is a lot to take in. How to prioritise your time and get the most from the event. From experience, I tend to waft around dashing from pretty thing to pretty thing, touching and trying and oohing and ahhing, so my advice on this is pretty useless. To assist, I’ve called in one of Sunday’s exhibitors and wedding exhibition connoisseur Mark of Mobeus Jewellers, who’ll lead you through the labyrinth of lovely!

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So lets hear form this seasoned exhibitor, fabulous jeweller and all round nice guy about how to make the most of wedding exhibitions and get the best results from your day out.

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Better meet the man himself first…

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How many wedding exhibitions have you attended Mark?

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I have been exhibiting at wedding fairs for at least 10 years so it must be dozens over the years, if not hundreds.

At a fair, we can get right to that target audience, often meeting hundreds of people in a day who would not normally visit our shop. That’s extremely valuable for anyone supplying the wedding industry.

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We get the chance to meet people who want to have a chat about their ideas for wedding and engagement rings. Some people have a bit of an idea what they would like as a wedding ring but haven’t seen what they are after. We are able to take their ideas and make them into their own personal designs.

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How do you make the most of wedding exhibitions?

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A lot of people are quite shy at first when they visit the stall, so we just ask them some simple questions to get the conversation going. We’re never pushy and just like to get a feel for the couple and what they are after as sometimes it’s hard to describe in words.

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We see all the different groups – the brides and mums, the gangs of girls together and some blokes who look like they have been dragged along kicking and screaming – but they love it when they get there!

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Here are Mark’s top tips for making the most of wedding fair season:

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Prioritise what is important to you

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It’s going to be very difficult to get round every stall, so decide before you get there what you want to get out of the exhibition. People often forget about the permanent things from the wedding such as the photography and rings and instead concentrate on the flowers and table designs. That’s fine if that’s your priority, but make sure there’s enough in the budget for the things that will last.

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Find a supplier you can relate to

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It’s your wedding, so you need someone who can understand your ideas and what you really want. That’s particularly important when choosing your wedding dress and rings. If you can relate to your supplier and get on well with them, they are really going to work well for you.

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Get at least three quotes

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Find something you like, think about it and then get another quote. There are a lot of big decisions to be made when choosing things for your wedding so don’t rush in. Sleep on things – your suppliers will still be there the day after the exhibition. And don’t always go for the cheapest price, look for something you really want and work with your supplier to get the right deal.

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Visit other fairs

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As well as visiting fairs at your venue or the larger ones in your area, it’s probably worthwhile getting outside of your immediate region to meet different suppliers – they may have the exact thing you’re looking for.